SECURITY COUNCIL AL-QAIDA, TALIBAN SANCTIONS COMMITTEE REVISES GUIDELINES

The Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and Associated Individuals and Entities thoroughly revised its guidelines for the conduct of its work on 12 February 2007.

This update follows the adoption of Security Council resolutions 1730 (2006) and 1735 (2006) on 19 December and 22 December 2006 respectively.

The main changes are in section 8 related to the de-listing procedure in light of Security Council resolution 1730 (2006), which requested the Secretary-General to establish within the Secretariat (Security Council Subsidiary Organs Branch) a focal point to receive de-listing requests and to perform the tasks described in the annex to the resolution.  Petitioners seeking to submit requests for de-listing can now do so either through the focal point process or through their State of residence or citizenship.

In accordance with paragraph 15 of Security Council resolution 1735 (2006), the period for consideration by the Committee of notifications submitted pursuant to paragraph 1 (a) of resolution 1452 (2002) has been extended from 48 hours to three working days.

The revised guidelines also contain some technical improvements with a view to bringing more accuracy and consistency throughout the text.

The Committee trusts that the revised guidelines will serve as a better tool for its own work and provide useful guidance to Member States in their implementation efforts.

The revised guidelines can be found on the Committee’s website: http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/committees/1267Template.htm

A note by the Chairman of the Committee officially transmitting the revised guidelines to all States and relevant international and regional organizations will follow shortly.

* *** *